Chapter 4 Perceptions of Neighbourhood Environment and Social Life
4.3 Perceptions of Neighbourhood Services and Amenities
4.3.3 Shops and Recreational Facilities
Respondents in the four postcodes were generally positive in their assessment of the provision of shops and recreational facilities in their neighbourhoods (Figure 4.6), with significant differences between all postcodes except that between Prospect and Onkaparinga. The mean score in Burnside was 6 on a 7-point scale, significantly higher than all the other areas. The mean was around 5.5 in both Onkaparinga and Prospect.
In Playford, people gave a mean score of 5 for shops and recreational facilities, significantly lower than the other three postcodes. While these perceptions also include shops, they do somewhat mirror the relative rates of sporting and recreational facilities identified in the area (section 3.2.5).
Figure 4.6 Mean score rating of shops and facilities in neighbourhood as poor/good
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Burnside (5066) Prospect (5082) Playford (5113) Onkaparinga (5169)
Mean Score
In terms of shopping facilities, most interview participants felt that the shops and amenities in their neighbourhoods were more than adequate:
“At the bottom of the hill we have a little supermarket, a doctor, a dentist, a pharmacy, the pub is just over there, not that we really go there very often and The Village [shopping centre] is very close.” [Edith 74 yo; widowed; retired; lives alone; home owner; UK migrant; Burnside]
“I tend to use the local chemist shop on Prospect Road and Adelaide Fresh that is a really good place to get just about everything. I go up to Woolworths at North Park. For things like car repairs I go out of the district but tyres I get from the local area. Swim Centre I have used that. A gym down at Ridleyton, so I know it is out of this area but there wasn’t really a gym in Prospect. There is one on Churchill Road further down that way.” [Simone 61 yo; married; lives with husband; home owner; works part time; Prospect ]
Several of the people interviewed in the Onkaparinga postcode area mentioned a lack of shops where they could purchase household items and clothing:
“The shopping centre is limited but you can still get to Marion [large shopping centre] or to town…There’s not a lot of clothes and stuff like that and for the house like sheets and things.
Not things you buy every week.” [Vivian; 72 yo; retired; home owner; lives with husband; UK migrant;
Onkaparinga]
People and Places|chapter 4: Neighbourhood Environment and Social Life
“I think it could do with more – if I wanted to buy some clothes for instance, there’s nothing in here. Not a thing. Electrical stores, hardware stores. Not even a hardware store in this area.
There used to be. It’s gone. That type of stuff. Just not available. The only thing that is here is medical, dental and food.” [Gordon; 42 yo; single, never married; lives alone; home owner; works full time; Onkaparinga]
“It’s probably a shame there’s not a few more shops, but they’ll get there. They’re certainly expanding…A variety store, like a Big W or something…Because I don’t like going to Colonnades [large shopping centre]. I usually go to Colonnades if I need clothes or anything like that.” [Ruth; 42 yo; married; lives with husband and kids; home owner; unemployed; Onkaparinga]
The issue of whether or not there are differences in the way in which men and women access and use shops and other locations within neighbourhoods for social reasons was explored as part of an Honours research project undertaken by Joanne Payne as part of this study. The findings from this project are summarised below:
DOES GENDER INFLUENCE THE WAYS IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS ACCESS AND USE
‘LOCAL OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURES’?
Local opportunity structures are the ‘… socially constructed and socially patterned features of the physical and social environment which may promote or damage health either directly or indirectly through the possibilities they provide for people to live healthy lives.’
(Macintyre & Ellaway 2000, p. 343).
A case study of two socio-economically contrasting neighbourhoods (Burnside and Playford) identified that gender does influence the ways in which men and women access and use local opportunity structures within their local area. The qualitative analysis of this study suggests that women are more likely to use local opportunity structures and more so as a means of maintaining or establishing their social networks. Further to this, women in Playford were more likely to do this at the micro-level of their neighbourhood, whereas women in Burnside tended to do this at a wider range of local opportunity structures; this occurred both within and outside of their neighbourhood. Men in Playford were even less likely to do this, and men in Burnside were more likely to do so as a way of obtaining a resource (such as access to facilities at a sporting club).
Not only did gender impact on these occurrences, but household income certainly contributed to the access and use as well as the types and range of local opportunity structures available to those individuals in the more disadvantaged neighbourhood.
Macintyre, S. & Ellaway, A. 2000, ‘Ecological Approaches: Rediscovering the Role of the Physical and Social Environment’, Social Epidemiology, (eds.) L. Berkman & I. Kawachi, Oxford University Press, New York.
People and Places |chapter 4: Neighbourhood Environment and Social Life
Open spaces and recreational facilities
While residents in Burnside, Playford and Onkaparinga felt that their neighbourhoods were well served in terms of open spaces and recreational facilities, several of those interviewed in Prospect commented on inadequate open space such as parks and playgrounds in their neighbourhood.
“There is not much parkland. There is a little one block park at the end of our street which is good for grandchildren and things like that…There is not much green land you know. There is a new place down on Churchill Road down towards Kilburn or Islington. There is a new open area down there but that is just a bit far away for us.” [Maxine: 61 yo; lives with husband; home owner;
works part time Prospect]
“I think the green space for the kids to go off and do their things is a bit limited so that is the only thing I could, open space, there isn’t I think a lot, but then I don’t think there is a lot in any suburb, a lot of sporting facilities you have to go to a local, like netball, you couldn’t play netball here, from the girls’ point of view there isn’t a lot here for them to do their sporting stuff.”
[Evan; 51 yo; married; lives with wife and children; home owner; works full time; Prospect]
“Usually when I go walking I go over to my daughter’s at Ridleyton…They have got many more parks than we have and places, sort of walking areas you can go on. So I don’t find walking here is a very thrilling experience.” [Simone; 61 yo; married; lives with husband; home owner; works part time; Prospect]
Many of the participants in the photo-voice exercise from Burnside, Onkaparinga and Playford included photographs of parks and playgrounds as positive features in their neighbourhood, such as the image below of a park in Burnside:
Burnside
People and Places|chapter 4: Neighbourhood Environment and Social Life